Scientific first used to confirm Age of Ana Maria Pearl

Pearls, Emeralds, History and now a scientific first - this one has it all

The Swiss Gemmological Institute have used radiocarbon dating in what is a world first, to confirm the age of an important historical pearl, the "Ana Maria Pearl".

Gemmologists carefully took a very tiny sample from within the pearl's drill hole in order to do the testing, and the data from this first-ever analysis confirmed that this natural pearl was formed between the 16th and mid-17th century AD.